The Lies They Tell, The Secrets They Keep
by MrsJagielski
Summary: Tragedy has brought Lucas Scott to Tree Hill, a place that he does not want to be. A place where unbeknonst to him, secrets surround him. Secrets that could hurt him more than anything else ever could.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: To all who read my fics, I'm trying. I want to continue writing, but it's taking me a minute with both school, work, and the show being shit. But I'm determined. I'm determined to get back my writing. And while I put pen to paper to get out Daddy Overnight and Because He Loved Her to completion, and I will, I'm bringin back an oldie but goodie. I had it posted here before but took it down to change some things. I think it's the second story I wrote, but the first I completed. I wrote this back in season one. If you've read it somewhere else before, read it again if you want. If you haven't, enjoy it for the first time.**

**~Alex**

* * *

The Lies They Tell. The Secrets They Keep.

An OTH FanFic

By AlexB

One

Tree Hill city limits.

He should have bolted at the last rest stop.

This was really happening.

_Why did you have to go?_

The words had moved though his mind so many times. They were starting to sound bitter now. He didn't like that, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to be here.

Karen glanced over at her son. Lucas just stared out the window. He had barely spoken a word to her, and what came out of his mouth was very little. One word answers if you could even call them that. He was looking out the window, but she knew he wasn't seeing anything. He was brooding. It was something that he had learned from his dad. They would both sit for hours with the same look on their faces saying nothing, thinking nothing. That wasn't the case now. She knew that her son's mind was anything but empty. He probably hated her. Lucas hadn't been happy in what felt like a long time. Telling him that they were moving hadn't helped matters much.

"_No. No!" He shot up from the table so fast he knocked chair to the ground with a hard slap. "I'm not leaving here," He told his mother. "This is my home."_

"_Lucas..." She could not take this right now; her patience was already wearing thin. She knew that her son was only trying to hold on to something that was normal, that he needed that even if it something as small as staying in the same place where he had been born, where he had been raised, but it just could not happen._

"_What about my life here, my friends?"_

"_You can make new friends." Karen tried to reassure him, rising to touch a hand to his shoulder, but Lucas jerked away from her. It hurt that he hadn't wanted her to touch him, but she understood, her son wasn't only angry, he was hurt. She was too. She didn't want to leave anymore than he did. But life wasn't fair._

"_I don't want to make new friends. I don't want to leave Charleston and neither do you."_

"_This isn't about what you or I want, Lucas." __She tried to explain to him. Karen hated that he had to grow up fast since their world had caved in on them, but that was just the way that it was. _"_This is about the way things have to be. We can't stay here anymore. We can't...I can't afford it."_

"_I'll get a job!" Lucas's voice pleaded._

"_No you won't." __Karen shook her curly dark head then pointed a finger at her only child._ _"You will keep your nose in those books." Her word was final, but Lucas wouldn't have been her child if he hadn't tried to plead his case one more time._

"_Mom..."_

"_No. No more; the end. Don't say anything else to me, Lucas Scott. I am the parent, you are the child. You do what I tell you. At the end of the school year we are leaving Charleston."_

Going back to Tree Hill was not her first choice. It was her only choice. Her parents owned a small diner there. They were getting on in age and needed someone to run the place day to day. Karen needed a job to support herself and her son. She and Keith had done what they could, but there had never been a "comfortable living." They worked hard, put their money away. Most of their savings was used to pay for what the insurance wouldn't cover when Keith died so suddenly.

Her husband had told her that no matter what, under no circumstances, was she to touch the money that was put away for Lucas's education. He didn't have to tell her, she already knew.

Even in his passing, Keith was still providing for his boy. Everything changed so fast. One minute they were happy, he was smiling, she was smiling. Lucas was even walking around with a grin on his face. That in itself was a miracle, for a kid who made a habit out of brooding from the time he woke up to 'til the time he went to sleep. Keith's death and the move wasn't the only thing that had her son in the dumps though Karen knew. A mother could tell when her child's heart was breaking, and when a significant other is the cause.

"This will be a good thing." She tried with the boy again.

Lucas continued to stare blankly out the window. "Whatever." He mumbled.

Who is she kidding? Karen thought to herself. They were walking...no driving into the mouth of the beast, right into the past…a past that could tear apart their future.

-

Lucas looked around the place that would be his room. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't small either. He had two windows, three if you counted the one that was built into the second door.

A door that led to the outside world.

His own exit. Who would have thought? Stock was most definitely going up this place, Lucas thought sarcastically. Oh, and he had a closet, too. One he could step into. Yippy-Skippy, he was all grins now.

"Not a bad place." His mother spoke from behind him. She frowned at the exit that sent alarms throughout her person.

Great, just what she needed.

"I'm not sure I like you having that door."

"Afraid I'll run away?" Lucas asked snidely stepping into the room. He dropped the box he held in his hands to the hardwood floor beneath. It sounded with a loud thud.

Karen sighed, exasperated with him already. "Will you at least try, Lucas?" She asked him. "I'm doing the best that I can and you aren't making the situation any better stomping around here being a pain in my ass."

He knew that she was trying, but didn't answer her all the same. He dropped bag he had slung over his shoulder to the floor as well. Moving across the room, he continued to ignore his mother. Swinging the door open, the sun blasted him full on in the face as he stepped outside. Karen watched as the door closed smartly behind him.

Lucas watched the people around him with narrowed eyes.

_A new start_, his mother said to him. "We could have had a new start in Charleston." He muttered kicking at the grass under him. He hated this place already. He hated this place for the simple fact that Tree Hill wasn't his home, it never would be. He would never be able to tolerate where he was now because of that simple fact, and because of the person who made his way toward him like owned the pace.

If that guy put anymore gel in his hair, it'd break in a good stiff wind. Just the thought brought something of a smile to Lucas's face.

-

Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a permanent scowl. He wondered if he could even open his eyes all the way. Jeez, Nathan thought, a smile would break his face. No question, no competition that was all that mattered to him. "Just get this over with." He muttered to himself as he walked up the sidewalk to where Lucas stood.

"That happiness to see me, cousin?" Nathan called as he walked hands shoved into the pockets of his Tree Hill lettermen jacket.

"Not especially." Lucas said more to himself than anyone. He wondered if the guy wore that damn thing to bed at night. "Here to welcome us to town?" He asked the dark haired boy when Nathan came to a stop in front of him.

Nathan shrugged, squinting to keep the sun out of his eyes. "Something like that." He smiled jamming his hands further in the jackets pockets. They were silent long enough for it to be uncomfortable. Every moment was uncomfortable around this guy. Nathan rocked back on his heels. He cleared his voice before he spoke.

"I didn't get to tell you this before, but I'm sorry about your dad."

Lucas froze. Everything in him tightened. He couldn't believe the words that had just come out of this guy's mouth. His voice was cold as he spoke, his eyes turned cold, so eerily icy that Nathan had felt he need to take a step back, but his pride refused to let him act on it. Lucas's voice was even colder than the look on his face.

"Don't say it if you don't mean it."

he didn't believe for one second, the words that had come out of that guy's mouth. He didn't believe that Nathan even believed the words that he had spoke just now. He never had a nice thing to say about Lucas's father. No one from his dad's brother's family had anything nice to say about Keith, the woman he married, or the son that they'd had together.

Nathan made a sincere effort not to get pissed, but it was damn hard. You couldn't say "boo" to this guy without him wanting to brawl over it.

_Be sure you welcome your aunt and cousin to town,_ his father had so nicely ordered him to do this morning over the breakfast table.

"Don't get your back hairs up, cousin. We may not have been close, but your father was my father's brother. My uncle in case you've forgotten."

Lucas crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes shot blue fury. "Forgotten?" He shook his head. "No, I haven't forgotten. Not any of it. What did being your uncle, being that man's brother, ever get him? You treated him like crap. From your father on down to you, neither one of you treated him like he was worth anything. None of you ever treated him like he mattered. So you're condolences mean shit, Nathan, because that's what's falling out of your mouth right now. I'll tell my mom you stopped by."

Stacking three boxes, one on top of another, Lucas hauled them into the house.

Nathan watched as he stalked way his own ire to near boiling. Never one to let anyone get the last word he yelled to Lucas's retreating form, "Welcome to Tree Hill, cousin!"

***

Raised, muffled voices seeped through the heavy door of the study in the Scott home. Even with his ear pressed to the door, Nathan could barely hear anything. But it didn't take much to guess at what they could possibly be arguing about.

Because his parents had such a happy marriage, Nathan snorted disbelievingly. One of them probably had a not so discrete lover who was getting out of line. Why did they even get married? He thought for what had to be the millionth time.

Then he laughed.

It always was a stupid question. He knew damn well the reason his parents said "I do" all those years ago. The reason was standing outside in the hall with his ear pressed to the door.

What a feeling it was to be responsible for one of the biggest mistakes ever made.

"Do you know what this could do to our family? Do you even care?"

Dan Scott sat on the end of his mahogany desk, watching as his wife paced the carpet in front of him ranting about the newest development in their lives. Arms crossed over his chest the man thought disbelievingly, "How the hell did I ever get myself into this?"

"_Are you even listening to me?!"_

"The whole world can hear you, Deb; which isn't a good thing, so do keep your voice down."

"This isn't a joke, Daniel." She hissed.

Heat raged though his body, the sound of his blood roared in his ears.

"How many times do I have to tell you...?" His was voice tight with restrained anger. He hated that name. It was his grandfather's name, and to impress the man, Dan's father had decided to name him after the old bastard. If he could have gotten away with it, he probably would have shot them both because of it.

"What?" His wife taunted an icy smile on her face. "You shouldn't be worried about your name, _Daniel_. What you should be worried about is what this is going to do to our family, our standing. I will not tolerate this. You have to do something."

"That's really all that you care about, isn't it, Deb?" He asked dryly. "Just what would you have me do? Run the woman out of town? Form a lynch mob?" The look on the blonde woman's face was of absolute shock.

"Are you saying that you aren't worried about this at all?"

"I didn't say that." He was worried. For so many reasons he was worried. "But what was she supposed to do? Her husband is dead. What family she has left is here. Karen and Lucas need their family more than anything."

"How touching." Deb mocked. "You aren't getting anything past me, Dan Scott. You think that you can have her now that your brother is dead and out of the way?" The woman laughed because that's exactly what her husband was thinking. She could always read the man like a book. And the killer part about it was that she wasn't in the least but mad. She shook her head. "You are so pathetic. You're in love with a woman who doesn't want you. It's sad really. Beyond words."

"What's sad, _Deborah_ is that this is how you get off. You like putting people under your foot and stepping down hard and fast as you can. You know what they say, like mother like daughter. Better watch those hips."

Her dark brows rose disbelievingly. "Are you going seriously get on your high horse and tell me that you don't like being better than everyone else?" The woman laughed.

"That's why you can never hurt me." He smoothly replied. "You're a harpy, I'm a dick, were a perfect fit." Rising slowly from his seat at his desk's edge, Dan eyed his wife then slowly walked until he stood behind her. The smell of her perfume made him want to spit, throw up and then pass out. Only she could make something that is supposed to smell so wonderful smell like shit. He dreamed about putting his hands around her neck and squeezing until there was no life left.

But what would that accomplish?

"You think that I don't know about you and my brother?" His voice was low and so close his breaths sounded in her ear. The squeezing of her shoulders gave Deb a jolt. The motions were not meant to be for pleasure, she knew. She also knew what her husband could do if he wanted to. Fear clawed up her throat. Taking deep breath, she ruthlessly choked it back, pushing it down her throat into the pit of her stomach. She would not let the man know that she was in the least bit afraid of him; of what he was capable of.

"You only wanted Keith to keep him away from Karen." Dan went on. "But he turned you down. Smart man my brother. If Keith was anything when it came to you, it was that. Did you really think that by being with him you would make me jealous?" Dan laughed a cold, bitter, knowing laugh. "You love me, don't you?" He taunted. "That's why you did it. You wanted to make me hurt because you were hurting. You were hurting because I wanted Karen and not you."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." She pushed past the knot in her throat.

"Mmm," Dan closed his eyes, a smile of satisfaction curled his lips, he asked, "Now who's pathetic?"

-

"So, was that Nathan you were talking to today?" Karen asked over dinner that night. Lucas had been quiet when he came in from bringing in the boxes from the car earlier. Lucas was always quiet, but this quiet was different that the usual. Not new. She'd seen it before. Just by looking at him, Karen could see that her son was pissed. More pissed off than she has seen him in a long time. Sighing inwardly she looked across the table at her boy. He wasn't eating. He'd been picking at his plate since he'd sat down.

"Lucas?"

"_What?"_ His voice is almost a growl. He didn't feel like talking. None of this would have happened if his mother hadn't insisted on bringing them to the place.

Karen's brows rose, hiding in the curly dark hair or her bangs. Leaning forward, she pointed her fork in her son's direction.

"You want to keep those lips?" She asked him her own voice going low. She waited until Lucas looked at her before saying, "Then I suggest you speak to me like you've got some sense. Sit up and look at me when I talk to you."

Lucas dropped his fork to his plate. It sounded with an audible clink. Sitting up straight, He looked his mother in the eye, his arms crossing his chest. Her breath caught. It was uncanny just how much her son looked like his father.

She had to clear her throat before she spoke. "I asked you about Nathan."

Lucas shrugged a dismissive shoulder. "He was here. So?"

She lifted her brow again in silent warning. "What did you guys talk about?" She asked him going back to her own dinner.

Lucas's jaw clenched, he ran a frustrated hand over the top of his mussed hair. "If you could even call it that."

Here we go, she thought. She lifted her eyes, watched him intently once more. Could anyone else see what she saw? It was like with every changing day...

Mentally the woman shook herself getting back on track. "Explain."

His top lip curled the least little bit in disdain. "He welcomed me to town."

"Well, that was decent of him." Karen went back to her dinner.

Lucas scoffed. "There isn't a damn thing decent about Nathan Scott, his father or his bitch mother."

Karen threw her own fork down. That was it. "Lucas Scott!"

"What do you want me to say, mom? I don't give a good goddamn who they are, whether or not they're family, or their standing in this piece of shit town. They were cold to you, they were cold to me, and they were cold to my father. I owe them _nothing_. You don't own them a damn thing either. This may be their town, but no way, no _fuckin' way_, am I going to kiss their ass."


	2. Chapter 2

The Lies They Tell. The Secrets They Keep.

An OTH FanFic

By AlexB

Two

Tree Hill High School. Welcome to hell, Lucas thought. He was really regretting not jumping out of the car when he had the chance. What the hell was this place? It looked like something out of the 60's. Lettermen jackets and cheerleaders everywhere you looked. He had smile at that thought.

Cheerleaders.

He couldn't really complain about that, now could he? He thought as one passed, sending a wink his way.

What he could complain about was having to walk to school. There should be a friggin' bus stop, he mentally raged. It was a fantastic voyage to get here on time this morning. His mom had had to open the diner, so she couldn't give him a lift. His legs hurt like a bitch. He'd stretch on the porch before making that trek again.

Lucas stopped mid-step, staring down some two-hundred and sixty pound muscle head who was trying to intimidate him. The look Lucas sent his way asked, "What the hell are you looking at?" He was supposed to afraid of a guy who looked like his mother dressed him?

Yeah, I'm talking to you, his nod said. The guy in question walked past Lucas, giving him a cool up and down stare. The girl with him smiled and did that sexy little eyebrow thing the girls were doing now.

"Your girlfriend likes what she sees." Lucas said to himself. Smirking, he walked the rest of the way into the school building, not caring about what anyone else thought.

He found his way to the office. A staid woman sat behind an old weathered desk.

"My name is Lucas Scott." He said as he approached the scarred wood. "I'm supposed to be starting classes today." The secretary looked up from her computer. With one look, the woman took in the boy from the top of his head to the tips of his solid boots. Naturally he didn't like the way the woman was looking at him. She studied him like she was about to make judgment.

"Scott?" She said as she again giving him a once over.

"Yeah," Lucas replied almost tartly. "Lucas Scott."

The woman's heavy brows rose. "As Scott as in Dan Scott? Scott as in Nathan?"

She's a smart one, Lucas thought. Give her a prize. "One's my uncle,"

"And the other is your cousin."

Oh, yeah, you're a college graduate, he mentally mocked. "Nothing gets by you." He said aloud.

The woman's brows rose once more. "I sure hope you're nothing like your cousin. If so..."

He felt his whole body tense then quiver with need to put his fist through something. "You don't have anything to worry about." He forced a smile. The woman smiled back, but the twist in her lips wasn't pleasant in the least.

The secretary looked past Lucas. "Got another one for you, Haley."

"Fresh meat." The voice behind him said. Turning, Lucas's gaze collided with the biggest brown eyes he had ever seen. She was cute...in a book-wormish, I know-more-than-you-do kind of way. Taking his schedule from his fingers, the girl looked it over, then after a beat, she handed it back. The way she watched him was unnerving.

Lucas had to beat down the urge to look for a mirror, run a hand over his mouth. Did he have something on his face? Jeez. With the way he was getting the stare down, you would think he was from another planet or that there was this big secret they all knew and he didn't. Like maybe he had a third nipple or something.

No girl had ever made him feel...weird with just a stare. And not the good kind of weird either. Lucas was talking about the uncomfortable weird. The weird that made your stomach want to jump into your throat. He didn't like it. He didn't like it one damn bit.

-

For a new guy, this Lucas character was something to look at. They would be all over him like white on rice. The guys would hate him. Why? 'Cause he's the new guy muscling in on all their squirrel. Too bad for them, Haley thought.

What was with that I-don't-give-a-damn look? She wondered. Another bad boy she went on. Then the name finally hit her.

Scott?

Groaning inwardly, Haley tried not to cringe or roll her eyes. Scott, as in Nathan Scott. Nathan Scott, the most arrogant, nerve wracking one in the bunch.

"So, do you go by Luke, or Lucas?" She asked desperately wanting to gloss over the fact that the guy in front of her may be just like the other Scott male who walked the halls. The sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could go take a shower.

"Either one is fine." He replied. Stop looking at me like that, he wanted to say. "And you go by, Haley?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." She held out her hand. "Haley James. They usually call for me when there's a new student who needs to be shown the ropes." Let's get a move on, her eyes said to him.

Lucas put his hand in his pocket, gazing at the girl coolly. "I'm pretty sure I can figure it out." Her skin was soft. That was nice. But it didn't make up for the feeling of being naked every time she looked at him. Just what the hell was she looking so hard for?

"Gonna deprive me of my duty?" She asked with a smile. "I think my feelings are hurt."

He shrugged. "I'm just saying you don't have to do it is all."

"Fine," Haley shrugged in turn the sooner she got away from this jack, the better it would before the both of them. "Have it your way. There's map on the wall just outside this door. Good luck, Lucas Scott, and welcome to Tree Hill High."

"Thanks." He muttered. "I think."

"Should have taken her up on her offer." The secretary pointed out. "You'll be lost before the first bell."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Stepping outside the door, Lucas looked at the map on the brick wall beside him, debating on whether or not to take it.

"Take the map, son."

At the sound of the gruff, male voice behind him, he turned around. The man looked like he was born a coach. He had the matching hat and jacket and everything. He even had that coach voice. You just knew what it was going to sound like when he was good and mad; when he was blowing that damn whistle, screaming at you to run laps.

"Better get to class." The man said with a friendly smile and wink. "Teachers hate when their students are late."

He'd made it just as the bell rang.

-

Hmmmm...new guy. Her lips slowly curved. The cousin Nathan was going on and on about. She thought that the character would have been a real dog, but he wasn't hard on the eyes. No sir, not at all. Sandy blonde hair that had that just out of bed look. That had to be the sexiest thing. He had serious potential, his last name not withstanding. What's with the stare though? She wondered. Haven't seen that in a long time, she thought.

Yeah, I'm looking at you, cutie and I cannot tell a lie, she thought with a smile. You look good, and I think that you know that you do. It's about damn time we got some new guys at this school. She smiled to herself again as the new guy took his seat, right behind her. Looking up, she caught the disbelieving stare of the only other Scott she had this class with.

***

As much as she didn't want to be in Tree Hill, the smell of her parents' diner was enough to make Karen smile, and remember the good times. Leave it to Dan Scott's bitch wife to ruin what was truly turning out to be a wonderful day.

They should have burned this place down a long time ago, Deb thought to herself. This is what her husband wanted? A woman with mousy brown hair and big bug eyes?

"Karen," Deb said as she took a seat at the counter. "I'm sorry that I didn't get over sooner to welcome you back to town."

"I wouldn't have expected you to." She replied. Karen hid not one bit of her disdain for the woman sitting in front of her. The foe smile of sympathy slid from the blonde's features. Yeah, Karen thought. There's the Deb Scott I know and love.

"Look," Deb said to her. "I'm trying to be civil here. We have to live in the same town."

She shook her dark head. "No we don't."

"So you're leaving?" Her words were disbelieving. "Hardly. You need this job; this place." The blonde waved a hand at the place around her.

"What I don't need," Karen managed to keep her anger in check. "Is you taking up seats for paying customers. Now if you aren't going to buy something, get your bony ass off my stool, and away from my counter."

"You know," Deb's lips twisted. "I don't know what Keith ever saw in you. He was a good man. You didn't deserve him."

The shot hurt the woman like you wouldn't believe.

She knew that her husband loved her more than anything, because she loved him the same way. Keeping her angry hurt tears at bay, Karen curled her hands in to fists, leaning on them so not to punch the blonde in the face.

"You don't have to tell me who my husband was." Karen replied, her voice low. "I don't need you to tell me, because I saw it every day, felt it every day, _every night_." Her mouth curved in a smirk. She always knew where to aim when she shot back. They'd fought before.

Karen gave as well as she got.

Always.

She wasn't stupid, she knew how her husband's brother's wife had felt about her husband. The look on the other woman's face was proof enough. Deborah Lee Scott looked as if she'd just been slapped. And she had, royally.

_Take that you snooty little bitch. _

"I know what's eating at you," Karen went on. "And yeah, he chose me. I'm the one still wearing his ring." She held up her left hand. The gold band wasn't much too look at, but he meant everything to her. It was proof of what she and her husband had. What they would still have even after she took her last breaths. To Deb, it was proof of what she would never have.

She stood up straight. "Get over it. And get out of my diner. Come in here again, and I won't be as nice."

Slipping her sunglasses up the bridge of her faintly crooked nose, Deb snatched her purse from the counter as she slid from the stool. "Welcome home, Karen." She said as she walked away, her heels clicked on the freshly mopped floor. The bell above the door rang as the stepped out into the morning sun.

Karen looked around. The place wasn't really all that packed for late morning. But once the lunch rush started, she wouldn't have time for a break, and right now, she really needed one. The altercation drained everything from her. Signaling to one of the waitresses that she was going to take her break, she moved through the back way out of the diner.

Once outside, the sobs come painful and harsh. Covering her mouth as a way to quiet them, she let the tears fall. How is she supposed to do this? How is she supposed to do this without him?

***

"It'll pass." An unfamiliar voice said. Looking up from his combination lock, Lucas stared into the face of a bonafide country boy. The guy even had a tooth pick between his lips. "It'll pass." He said once more, a slow, almost lazy drawl crept in his voice.

Lucas shrugged a shoulder. "I'm not worried about it."

"No, I don't suppose you are." The boy held out his hand. "Jake Jagielski." He introduced himself. For a second he almost though that was a trick, that this guy has been sent to razz him because he was the new guy.

It was the eyes.

Lucas hadn't seen eyes that honest since...Cutting the thought off, he put out his own hand. "Lucas Scott." As he shook Jake's hand, he felt like he was actually making some headway in this godforsaken place. "You're the first person who hasn't looked at me like I'm about to shoot up the place."

"Well," Jake drawled. "You don't exactly set off friendly vibes. There's a bet going that you'll start a brawl before the week is over."

"I hope you don't have money on that." Lucas replied flatly. Who the hell did these people think that they were? They didn't know a damn thing about him.

Jake picked up on Lucas irritation. "Hey, it's not that serious. It's just what they do here."

"You don't sound like you're from around here either."

"I'm not. Texas." Jake winked then smiled.

"Why would you ever want to come here?"

He never heard Lucas's question. A girl walked by, and Jake stood instantly mesmerized. Lord, he thought. If it's not a sin to be that damn beautiful, it damn well should be. Too bad her attitude wasn't as nice as her face. There was such thing as a beautiful, ugly person.

Lucas followed guy's line of vision. "She's probably a cheerleader."

"Yeah," Jake replied. "She is. But she's not like them. Not on the inside anyway." He sighed, then plastered on a smile, turning back to Lucas. "This place will grow on you. I didn't want to be here either in the beginning either. Now, I can't imagine going back. Not anymore."

"I don't know if I'll ever feel that way." Lucas spoke this thoughts a loud.

"Takes time. You're the new guy now, but you won't be for long. Don't be afraid to say 'hi' when you see me in the halls. Not all the kids here at the high school are bad. If you look you'll find some nice guys." With a nod of his head, Jake clapped Lucas on the shoulder, and then made his way down the hall.

-

"Did you see the way she was looking at him?"

"I saw." Nathan snapped. "I don't need you to give me the play by play about how my girlfriend was checking out my cousin."

What the hell did he think that he was doing? Nathan wanted to know. He would get to the bottom of it sure enough, but right now, he didn't have time to worry about his supposed girlfriend's wondering eyes. He had to get to practice, or Whitey would have his ass.

"Hey, Tex." Nathan called when he made it out on the court, Tim right on his heels. "Saw you and my cousin taking earlier. Jake passed the ball, Nathan caught it hard in the chest. "Whoa," chuckled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you were upset with me, cowboy." The look in Nathan's eyes was anything but nice. Challenge glittered in them. Stepping close enough for his ears only, Nathan handed his teammate the ball.

"Know your place, Jagielski." Nathan spoke softly his voice holding warning. "When you talk to my cousin again, tell him the same."

Jake leaned in as well. He didn't like to be told anything by a guy who's ass he could kick on a bad day. "I'm not your message boy." He informed Tree Hill's golden boy. He nodded in Tim's direction. "Have your girlfriend do you dirty work." Tim gave Jake the finger and his best "kiss my ass" look.

"You wouldn't know what to do with it if I gave you instructions, sidekick."

Laughing softly, Nathan stepped back. "Remember what I said, scrub."

"You two can neck later!" Whitey Durham's booming voice shouted from the bleachers. He watched the whole exchange from the other side of the gym. That Nathan was just like his father. He had the skills to take him far in the game, but his attitude really stunk. And if he didn't watch himself...

Throughout the whole practice, Whitey watched Dan's son. That was the only way to describe young Nathan. He was walking in his old man's footsteps. He was the exact replica of his father all those years ago. Thank God Whitey was made of sterner stuff. Any other coach would have quit a long time ago.

Whitey Durham had never been just any other coach.


	3. Chapter 3

The Lies They Tell. The Secrets They Keep.

An OTH FanFic

By AlexB

Three

"How was practice son." Dan asked when Nathan came home later that night. It never failed. If it included basketball, especially basketball, his dad felt that he had to insert himself in every aspect of his life.

"Fine, Dad." Nathan replied, doing nothing to hide the irritation in his voice. "Practice went fine. You were there remember."

"And as you saw, I didn't get to stay. I had things to do. It's good that you're leading your team, Nathan. They need a leader, and you're the best on for the job."

He didn't need anyone to tell him that. And it wasn't just because those chuckle-heads couldn't rebound their way out of a paper bag.

"You looked a little distracted out there before I left."

Dan sat in his chair. He hadn't looked away from his paper, but Nathan wasn't stupid. The man wasn't reading. He was waiting for him to explain. So he been a little distracted. Any guy would be if their girl was checking out another guy. Especially if this other guy was Lucas. His cousin was going to have to learn the roles and rules of Tree Hill. He was going to have to learn who this certain girl belonged to.

Folding the paper, Dan tossed it aside. "By your silence, I'm going to take that you know that you were mess out there today. This is not acceptable, Nathan. You have to lead."

"Dad…" He ground out.

"No excuses." The man got up from his chair. "You are my son. You have to keep up the Scott image. Get your ball. We have some time before dinner."

"Dad, come on." He complained. "I've just busted my ass for the past four hours. I'm tired, and I have homework."

"You don't understand,"

"I understand perfectly." His voice cut in. "Basketball is all you care about, but if I don't make the grades, I don't play. If I don't have the energy, I'm shit out..." Nathan stopped talking at the look on his father's face.

"What have I told you about talking to me like I'm one of your idiot friends?" Dan asked quietly. He'd never done that before, stopped him with only a look. He'd seen his dad pissed before, but this was something else entirely. It took Nathan a minute to get his bearings. He wouldn't let his dad see him scared.

Never again.

"I am not one of those jackasses you hang out with. You will speak to me a little better than you have been, do you understand?"

"I heard you." Nathan voice was quiet.

"Go get your ball." Dan said again. "We have some time before dinner." Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Nathan started up the steps. At the top he ran into his mother.

The look on her son's face stopped the woman cold.

"What?" She reached for him.

He threw her hand off ducking her touch. "I'm fine."

"Nathan," she sighed

"_I'm fine!"_

"It's not fine!" Deb hissed back.

"What the hell are you going to do about it, mom? Huh?" He asked her. "And why do you care? It's not like you ever cared before."

"What?"

"You heard me." Nathan growled. "Go back to doing what you do best. I don't need you to try and fix this. Not that you could." He added.

Deb wasn't surprised at the way her son spoke to her. She was to blame for it, she knew. If she was more of a mother, she sighed. There was nothing she could do about it now.

Nathan slammed his door behind him. Closing his eyes, he shook his head. His parents had instantly started fighting. This time he was sure that it was about him. It was what they're good at.

Now that he had a minute, he let his teeth sink into the fact that his girlfriend was eying someone else today, and she liked what she saw. She didn't try and hide it. Brooke never did. Nathan hadn't asked her about it, because he knew she wouldn't try and deny it.

Competition? He didn't like it, because that meant that he was wrong. And he hated being wrong even more than he hated loosing. The sooner he got a hold on this, the better.

-

She'd been crying. He could see it all over her face. She tried to use makeup to cover up the redness under her eyes. It hadn't worked. He could always tell when there was something wrong with her.

"Are you going to tell me?" Lucas asked his mother over dinner.

Karen concentrated on the food in front of her. She knew that she had to eat, but she couldn't take one bite her stomach couldn't take it. She was empty, and she felt so sick, she could barely keep her head up.

"Tell you what, love?"

Lucas shook his head in disbelief. "You can't even look at me." He said to her. "You've been crying. Why? And don't lie to me, mom."

"It's nothing that you need to worry about." Karen tried to assure him.

She'd been crying off and on the whole day. It finally hit her.

The grieving.

Staying strong for their son had consumed her, so she hadn't had time to mourn the man she lost, the only man that she would ever love. Miss, sure, but that was a whole other story. Her little scene with Deb finally brought it all to a head. And it was only going to get worse because Keith wasn't coming back.

Would her heart ever be whole again?

"It is something I need to be worried about." Lucas said to her. "You're my mom. Dad isn't here anymore. I have to be the one to take care of you; of us."

Karen smiled. "I don't need you to take care of me." Her heart filled with pride for her boy. "I'm the adult. I'm the one who needs to be taking care of you."

"I haven't been a kid for a long time mom. I know you miss him." Lucas spoke quietly. "I miss him too, and it's not fair to either one of us. Just because I'm not a little kid anymore doesn't mean that I don't still need my dad, you know?"

"I know." She nodded sadly, feeling somewhat guilty. "I hope that I can be enough."

It pulled at his heartstrings. Lucas had not cried since he was eight, but he really felt like doing it now. Clearing the tightness in his throat, he cleared his plate from the table. He wasn't hungry as he thought he was anymore.

Karen cleared her throat. "Um...how was school?" She asked him.

He shrugged a shoulder. "It was okay. I guess." It was hell, but she didn't have to know that. "I think I may have actually made a friend, if you believe that." Lucas smirked at the thought of the cowboy he met today shaking his head.

"I told you that it would happen."

"Well, let's not go jumping the gun." Lucas came back to the table. Turning his chair, he sat on it backward. Karen smiled at the move. Keith used to do the very same thing.

"Tell me about him."

Lucas jerked his shoulder again. "I don't know much about him. He's a cowboy. From Texas. He was the only one who didn't look at me like I had a severed ear, you know? I _hate _being the new guy."

"It'll get better."

"From your lips to God's ears." Lucas rested his head on his folded hands. Looking at nothing, thoughts of his father rushed his mind. "Hey mom...?" He looked up.

"Yeah."

"I'm uhh...I'm sorry about before. I know that you're just doing what you think is right for us, and I had no right jumping on you the way that I did. I still hate Tree Hill and everything that it stands for, but I'm willing to give it a try. For you."

Well damn.

Swallowing back the tears, Karen could only nod.

"Aww Jeez, Mom." Lucas went to her, wrapping the woman in his arms. "I didn't mean to make you cry. Knock it off, will ya?"

"No, these are happy tears." She smiled at him.

"Excuse me, but I think that you're pulling my leg." Lucas smiled himself. "I've never seen a happy woman cry."

"You will."

He rolled his eyes heavenward. "Thanks. That's just what I needed to hear."

"You'll be fine." She patted his shoulder. "A Texan, huh?"

"Yeah." He grinned. "One of those 'old souls', dad would call him."

"Bring him by when you get the chance." Karen cleared her own plate. "I would love to meet the young man who helped in my son's giving me a break."

-

"Had to walk to school again this morning, cousin." Nathan gloated. Lucas didn't hear him coming, but he smelled him. Damn, how much cologne did this guy put on this morning? Closing his locker, he turned around. Not a hair out of place. His clothes looked like something out of a magazine. All American Jock Monthly, or some crap like that. Go figure.

"What can I do for you this morning and could you make it quick? I would hate to be late for history." Lucas smirked.

Smug bastard. "You aren't going to make this easy for me, are you?"

"Do you really expect me to believe that you're here to make nice?" Lucas wanted to know. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, what game you're trying to play, but I don't have the time or the patience for it. So, say what you came to say, and get the hell out of my face."

Brooke Davis couldn't take her eyes off the action. "New guy looks mad." She observed.

"What was your first clue?" The blonde beside her remarked. "I saw him talking to Jake the other day."

"I really wish you wouldn't talk about him."

"Why?" Peyton Sawyer replied with a knowing smirk. "You said that there wasn't anything going on with you two."

"And there isn't." Brooke scolded.

"Me thinks doth protests too much. What's wrong with him? He's cute, a gentlemen, even."

"Then you date him!"

Peyton only laughed.

Brooke really liked Jake, Peyton knew. She justwasn't giving the guy a chance because of who she was and who he wasn't. Pathetic really, but it was just the way things were. Just then their topic of choice walked by. Brooke Davis was crazy not to want anything to do with Jake Jagielski. Chocolate brown hair, beautiful brown eyes. Smiled all the time. What was there not to like?

"You're crazy." Brooke muttered.

"You're the one dating Nathan Scott, and I'm crazy? When's the last time you looked in the mirror, girl?"

"You think that Jake Jagielski is such a hot catch, P. Sawyer, go for it."

"I don't like him like that. _You do. _Don't deny it." Peyton said when her friend tried to protest the fact. "You like what you see in Jagielski. He's not like the other guys. It scares you."

Brooke tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I'm not scared of anything." She said to her. "You're supposed to be my best friend. I thought you knew that."

"I did. And I believed it." Peyton nudged Brooke's side, and said, "Until now."


	4. Chapter 4

The Lies They Tell. The Secrets They Keep.

An OTH FanFic

By AlexB

Four

"You got something you want to tell me?" Nathan asked offhandedly. They sat in his bedroom on his bed watching one of the lamest movies in history. They could be doing something else, but as usual, she wasn't in the mood. She hadn't said a thing about _him_. He still couldn't believe the gall of the little bastard. Did he really think that he had a chance?

He wouldn't have asked, he wouldn't have brought the thing up at all, if Brooke had brought it up herself. She hadn't, so it looked like he was going to have to be the bad guy.

"No." She pretended to watch the movie. "I don't have anything to tell you. Why?" Brooke looked at him. "You have something you want to tell me?" Snatching the remote from her, Nathan clicked off the television. Turning the bedside lamp, he rolled from the bed. He couldn't sit next to her, no matter how good she smelled. She wanted to do things the hard way, fine.

"You want me to spell it out for you?" He asked her.

Her eyes narrowed. "Looks like you're gonna have to, champ, 'cause I don't know what the hell you're going on about."

"Lucas." He spat, figuring that the guy's name would trigger her memory.

She wasn't sure where this was going. "And?" She poked around in a bowl of popcorn that she wasn't even hungry for anymore. "What about him?"

His patience at his peak, he snatched the bowl out of her hands. Brooke looked up him, incredulity and irritation warring in her eyes. Just what was with him? "Okay, fine, you want to do this now?" She sat up, brushing her hands together. "Fine. Why don't you tell me what's going on here? What does your cousin have to do with anything?"

"You tell me." Nathan almost shouted. "Something going on between you and him?"

"How did you...Where did you? Wanna tell me where you're getting your information?"

"You!" He shouted. "You're supposed to be my girlfriend." Nathan went on. "You aren't supposed to be checking out other guys. Especially if those guys share my bloodline."

She laughed. Did he hear the words that were coming out of his mouth? Obviously he didn't if the look on Nathan's face told her anything. "Oh, my God. That's why you're so off the handle? Because I checked your cousin out?" She laughed again.

"How is this funny?" Nathan wanted to know. "What were you doing checking out my cousin, Brooke?"

She stopped laughing mid-chuckle, her brows rose.

"Oh, come on, Nathan. Are you seriously going to sit there and tell me that you don't check out other girls?" She could feel herself getting angrier and angrier as the conversations went on her. Her eyes narrowed and she stood. "All I'm doing is looking. _You_, on the other hand, take it one step further."

"That was only one time!" He shouted in his defense.

"It shouldn't have been at all!" Brooke stalked away from the bed, mad as hell now. Who did this guy think that he was? Dumb question deserves a dumb answer. He was Nathan Scott basketball God, so of course he thought he could do what he wanted, when he wanted, and not only because he could shoot a basket, but because he's his Dan Scott's son. And what was she doing? Letting him. That was what she was doing.

Nathan groaned inwardly, closing his eyes. He made a mistake, how long was she going to hold it over him? "I don't want to do this now, Brooke."

"Oh, but we are. You started this, be man enough to finish it." She all but growled. "You're accusing me of having something going on with your cousin, who hasn't been in town but for a few days, mind you. _You _are the one who cheated," she poked him in the chest with a carefully manicured finger. "Not me. _You _are the one who had the trash on the side," she poked him again. "Not me. Don't even try and come down on me about looking at another guy, because that was all it was. _Looking_."

Nathan eyed her with disbelief. "Are you seriously expecting me not to be mad about this? He's my cousin, Brooke!" Nathan shouted.

Brooke shouted back, "And she was a friend!" The bitch. She got hers. "Didn't really matter to you that you were messing me over with her, now did it? _You _don't have the right to be mad."

"Oh, I don't?"

"No," Brooke's hands went to her hips. "You don't. I was seeing with my eyes, not my hands...or other parts, you asshole. I could just reach over and slap the hell out of you."

"I have all the right." Nathan spoke slowly. "I am you boyfriend, Brooke Not Lucas, or anyone else. You shouldn't be looking at other guys." He pointed back at her. "I at least deserve that much."

Brooke's eyes got wide, sparkling with restrained fury. _Oh, no he didn't...he did not just..._

Nathan closed his eyes. Dumbass, he berated himself. He knew he had messed up when the words came out of his mouth instead of staying in his head where they belonged._ Aww hell...way to step in it Scott,_ he thought.

Brooke cut her eyes at him. "You deserve...?" She damn near roared. "_**You deserve!**_" She finally bellowed. "What did I _deserve_, Nathan?"

"Brooke.."

"Did I _deserve_ to walk in and catch the act?" The smile she sent him was meant to castrate him, Nathan knew. "Did I deserve that 'this isn't' what it looks like, Brooke.'?" She mocked, doing her best Nathan imitation.

"How long are you going this over my head? I said I was sorry!" He shouted.

"Would you like me to show you were you can stuff you lame assed apologies?" She shouted back. What the hell was she still doing here? It was long past time for her to have gotten the hell out of dodge. She snatched the necklace he had given her from her neck. She threw it at him, wishing whole heartedly that the damn thing would have bounced off his head instead of falling at his feet. "I'd tell you wear to stuff the cheap trinket, but you've already been there!"

This had gotten way out of hand. It wasn't the way that he wanted things to go. Nathan reached for her, but she pulled away. "Dammit, Brooke." He growled.

"Touch me, and you'll never shoot another basket." She threatened.

Stepping back, Nathan let her go. He didn't need her. There were plenty of girls that would love to be with him. Brooke Davis was just one of them.

"Good choice." She said to him. "I'd really hate for you to have to run game singing high soprano." With that, she stormed out of Nathan's room, and down the steps nearly running into his father at the bottom.

Always had to get the last word in, Nathan thought. The girl was more like him than he cared to admit. He started after her, but stopped at the top of the steps. Shit was all that he could think. His father looked at him quizzically from where he stood. It didn't take a genius to know that the man had heard some, if not all of what had happened. Like he really needed his this. The last thing he wanted was for a man who couldn't please his own wife to offer any kind of advice. His father sent him a knowing smile instead.

Not willing to give the man anything more, Nathan turned going back into his room. The slammed the door smartly behind him.

-

"I talked to Coach Durham today." Karen said after dinner. She tried to slip it in best she could. The last thing she wanted was for her son to get suspicious.

Lucas closed the dishwasher looking his mother in the eye. "No."

"What?"

"I'm not doing it." He said adamantly, shaking his head. "I won't play basketball for Tree Hill."

She never had been real smooth with dropping hints. "Can I ask why not?"

"You _'can do' _anything." Lucas took a glass from the cabinet with one hand, and reached into the refrigerator with the other. He pulled out a carton of chocolate milk filling the glass. "But my answer will still be no. I'm still not playing for them."

"I _can kick _your butt all the way to Charleston and back if you don't watch you tone, understand?" She motioned him out of her kitchen because if she let him stay any longer he'd be fixing him a third plate. "Now tell me why you don't want to play for the school."

"Nathan plays on that team." Lucas said simply.

Karen's shoulders rose in question. "So?"

"That's his team, mom." Lucas said before drinking his milk. "I'm not interested."

"Why? Because he's Nathan Scott, basketball star, son to Dan Scott? You're just as good." She said to him. "Weren't you the same blonde kid who told me that this may be 'their' town, but you weren't going to kiss their ass? I think that was you. Tall kid, kind of lanky, sandy blonde hair that's all over the place, pretty blue eyes...you know who that guy is?" Lucas smiled shaking his head.

Karen smiled back. "Your dad played for that team you know." She threw out there.

"I know." Lucas nodded. "And he was good."

"Look." His mother leveled with him. "Don't mean to push you, and if that is what I'm doing, then I'll stop right now, but baby, you love basketball. Dad may be gone..."

"He's not gone." Lucas said quietly. "He's right here." He tapped the spot over his heart.

"That's right." Damn proud of her son she was. Even when she wanted to slap his lips clear across the table, Karen was tremendously proud of Lucas. "Just think about it. Will you?" She asked him. "You don't have to play, but I think you might like it if you do."

"I'll think about it." He agreed.

Her brows rose in disbelief. Was her son actually agreeing to do something? She wanted to get up a check for birthmarks. This couldn't be her son, the argumentative teenager she had to all but drag to Tree Hill. This had to be a sign the apocalypse or something.

Lucas got defensive. "Don't look too surprised." He said to her. Karen tried to stop her grin, but she couldn't quite pull the feat off.

"And stop grinning." He barked. "I didn't say that I would do it."

She was smiling full on now. "I know."

Damn that Jake! He thought. He was going think that this was just hilarious.

-

"Laugh one more time." Lucas threatened the next day. As he had thought, Jake had cracked up. His deep laugh had echoed down the hallway, drawing stares from the people who walked them. He wanted to stuff him in a locker. He'd never done it before despite the rumors from his old school. Jake was liable to be Lucas's first victim if he didn't wipe that damn smile off his face. He hadn't said that he was going to do it.

"Try out." Jake said to him. "We'll need someone else on the team to counter act the show boat."

"Getting the feeling that you don't like my cousin all that much. Wanna start a club?"

He laughed again. "I don't think that we'd last long. Nathan's daddy has money. He'd pay to have the club dis-banned or raise holly hell." Jake stopped when the same girl from the other day passed them. It really was pathetic to watch this guy moon over this chick that he was probably too good for anyway. "Why don't you just ask the girl out?" Lucas asked when the other guy's eyes continued to track the girl as she blended in with a group of girls standing in the halls talking.

"I would," Jake finally replied. "But she has a guy. Your cousin."

-

Watching the two guys at the lockers down the hall, Brooke nudged Peyton. "He's looking over here. Go say hi."

Peyton took her books from her locker. "Would you stop? I'm not." She told her. "He's not looking at me, and I'm not looking at him. Did you drink your contacts again?"

"He's not looking at you...? He's not looking at you?" Brooke repeated for effect. "_Please._ Who else would he be looking at?"

"Take a wild guess, genius." Peyton rolled her eyes. She'd never known Brooke to be so damned blind.

"Jerk alert." Peyton sounded.

"Nice to see you, too." Nathan tossed out as he walked past her.

She raised a perfectly arched brow. "I never said the sight of you was nice. You just fucked up my day. I got gym."

"You know you don't have to take that class." Brooke called after her friend's retreating back.

"I like to sweat." Peyton said over her shoulder.

"Ew!" Brooke laughed. "Overachiever!"

Peyton laughed back. The sound echoed down the hall.

"Are you just going to ignore me?"

Brooke closed her locker, gracing the guy standing in front of her with an unconcerned up and down look. "Oh. Were you standing there?" About three or four of her friends still stood around hanging on every word. She whirled around shooting them all a look. Get the hell on! Her eyes said. Vultures. She was no one's entertainment. Not anymore.

"We need to talk about this."

"Talk about what? You're a dog. I was dumb. You know what they say about sleeping with dogs. It's waste of three minutes."

"What do I have to do?"

"Begging are we? Using the eyes won't work. I perfected that one. I'm not coming back, Nathan. Go find another, schmuck. Do try not to mess with any of my girlfriends. Though I won't have to worry about Peyton." Brooke smiled again. How she loved that little blonde when she got good and evil. "She wants to chop you off." She glanced down, then back up again. "I should of let her a long time ago."

-

He knew it was her, by the click of her heels. Why the hell did she have to bother him at work? It was like he couldn't get away from her.

"We need to talk, Daniel." His wife strolled into his office, taking the seat across from him. Crossing one leg over the other, she directed her gaze at him. She wasn't happy. When was the woman ever happy? he wondered to himself.

"What? Dan was tired of her already. He didn't need this. It was only noon, and he had enough of women for the day.

He went to see Karen at the diner...

Big mistake...

"_I told your wife not to come here, now I'm telling you." Wiping off the counter, Karen moved out into the dining room, busing tables. It was just her and two other workers who seemed to be doing their job; paying the two of them no attention._

"_I just came to apologize for Deb." He said to her. She was still beautiful. What the hell was he thinking letting her go the way that he did? His brother had the life that Dan should have had, and he hated Keith for it, but, Dan missed the man no matter how much he hated him, and when Keith had died he left Karen and Lucas behind. They were family._

"_Don't apologize for you wife, Dan." Karen told him, still not looking him in the face. "Just keep her out of my diner. I don't want her in here again. I don't want you in here either."_

"_You need your family. You can't do it all alone."_

"_And you think that you are it?" She laughed humorlessly. "Our 'family'." She had never heard the "f" word come out of Dan's mouth when it came to her, Keith or Lucas. Dan Scott was not her family. He was Keith's brother. That's was all. Karen didn't need him then, and she damn sure didn't need him now._

"_You were married to my brother." Dan started in._

"_Still married." Karen clarified._

_He tried to change his angle. "Lucas is..."._

_Karen's head shot up, her dark eyes glittered with restrained anger. "Is what?" Karen spat. "Lucas is what?"_

"_I'm his family. Nathan is his family."_

"_No." Karen walked away from him. "You are not my son's family." He followed her into the kitchen. "You may be Keith's brother, and Nathan may be his nephew, but you are no family to mine. You never have been, and you never will be."_

"_I have the right to know Lucas."_

_She whirled on him. "You don't have the right to a damn thing! Get out."_

"_Karen, you can't..."_

"_Get out, or I'll call the police and have them toss your ass out."_

"_This isn't over." Dan warned her. "I will be apart of Lucas's life. You can't keep me away from my family."_

"_Lucas is my son!" Karen roared following behind him. "You didn't want a thing to do with him then, you won't have anything to do with him now. You have no right, and no say. I don't care what your last name is. Go near my child, Dan, and I will cut you off at the short hairs"_

"Dan, are you even listening to me?"

His wife's voice brought him back to the present. She looked about as irritated as he felt. Her hair showed that she had just recently been to the salon. Her nails were done. He wouldn't be surprised if her feet were done, too. Deb had a hold on him that had nothing to do with their son. He couldn't walk away from her even if he wanted to; but she didn't have his heart. The woman never would.

"What were you doing at the café this morning?" She asked again.

"Since when do I answer to you?" He retorted. "You wear my ring, you share my bed. That's all, that's it. You have no say in where I go, or what I do. Just as I don't with you."

She ignored her husband's last remarks. "All ask again." She said. "What were you going at the café, Dan?"

"Lucas is my family. I want to know him."

Deb looked at her husband like the man has lost his damned mind. Then she started to laugh. Her laughter faded away at the look on his face. He was serious. No, she had to be mistaken. This was just insane. Even a man thinking with the brain in his shorts could see that.

"Since when do you care about Karen's son? You weren't worried about playing the part of 'uncle' when your brother was alive, but you are now?"

"I've made some mistakes. You should know, you're one of them. My brother is gone." He continued. "I won't ever have the chance to make things right."

"So you're going to use Keith's son to purge your guilty conscience?"

"I'm not going to use Lucas for anything. If my brother's death has taught me anything, it's that life is too short. I want to get to know my nephew. He is my family. Next to Nathan, he is all that I have left."

"I'm just your wife." She snidely remarked. "If you think that boy is going to go for it then you have really lost it. He wants nothing to do with you. You're using that child and his father's death as a way to get close to Karen."

"This has nothing to do with Karen."

"You can't lie to me. Were too much alike, Dan. I know you better than you know yourself. You're hopeless."

He was unfazed. "I can think of a million things you are and not a one is nice, as a bitch, that's to be expected. Despite what you may think, or what you say, you don't know a damn thing about me, woman, and I will to get to know my nephew whether you or your precious standings like it or not. My brother loved that kid. I want that chance, too."

-

"Stay away from, Brooke."

Lucas took the words with a grain of salt. "Trouble in paradise?" Only one person told him what to do, and Nathan wasn't that person.

Who the hell was Brooke?

"This is the only warning you're going to get." Nathan warned.

He moved closer, but Lucas didn't move back. Everything around them stopped. People stopped walking, every mouth was shut, and he could swear that the people around them were holding their breath. They were all waiting for something. More likely than not for one of them to throw a fist.

"You stay away from my girlfriend."

A smile started on Lucas's face. Cool and confident. It rubbed Nathan the wrong way. He wanted so badly to smash his fist into his face. Lucas knew it, too. He shrugged his shoulders.

"If she comes to me..." That was all that he got out. Nathan snatched him up by the collar and shoved him back against the lockers. His eyes were almost black with anger when he growled, "Stay away from my girlfriend."

Lucas dropped his bag shoving Nathan away from him with both hands. He'd take anything that Nathan wanted to bring. He'd woken up this morning spoiling for a fight. In the way that he stood, Lucas let him know just that. If this guy thought that he was going to punk him in front of all these people, he'd have to work for it.

Nathan nodded. "Alright."

Tim made his way to the front. He nodded Nathan's way. "I got you."

"Jump in and I got you." Jake's voice warmed from Lucas's corner. He didn't need anyone in his corner, but it was good to know that someone has his back. He wanted a fight and Nathan was about to give him one. Whoever this Brooke was, she'd just given him an outlet for his pint up frustration.

Nathan took off his jacket, handing it to Tim. Opening his fist and closing it, he cracked his knuckles, thinking to himself that this was going to be good. It was time to show this clown who belonged and who didn't.

Nathan moved first, taking a step forward, not giving him the chance to get the drop on him, Lucas grabbed his cousin by the collar of his shirt, tearing it. Pivoting, he threw Nathan into the same lockers he had shoved him into earlier. Two girls moved out of the way before Nathan's body crashed against the metal. As he righted himself, Lucas drew back and let loose with a punch that split Nathan's lip.

"You gonna let him do that to you!" Tim yelled over the voices of the crowd. He hazarded a look Jake's way and found Jagielski staring at him. This was all about Nathan and Lucas, Jake's dark eyes said. If Tim decided to do something stupid, then well, Jake smirked.

Swearing, shoving and punching, the boys fell to the ground with Nathan on top. Lucas took a shot to the ribs. The air literally left his body, but he didn't stop fighting. He was too pissed to feel that what would undoubtedly sneak up on him later. Tossing Nathan off, he rolled to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth with his thumb. Rolling his shoulders, he watched as Nathan got to his feet. His shirt was torn even more, the blood dripped from his mouth now. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

Lucas shrugged, raising his fists again. Please don't let it be enough, he thought, because he wasn't finished.

They started in on each other again.

"Throw another blow and I'll make you wish that you hadn't!"

Jake grabbed his friend by the back of his shirt, hauling him away from a possible expulsion, while Tim did the same with Nathan. Whitey Durham stepped in between the boys with the same last names. He pointed his finger at Nathan, his eyes shooting fire.

"Just what do you think that you are doing here, Nathan?"

"Are you serious?!" Nathan shouted. "This guy threw the first blow!" He nodding in Lucas direction. He didn't deny it. Truth or lie, Lucas just wanted to get his hands on Nathan again.


End file.
